Despite a common assumption that the Bible is all sweetness and light, filled with upstanding moral models for individuals today, it doesn’t always translate so neatly. After Adam, the next father is one who murdered his brother. There’s Noah’s drunken nakedness whose story involving his sons ended up endorsing the slavery of Africans, Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son Isaac, Lot’s sleeping with his daughters, Isaac’s tragic failure to discern the difference between his sons, Jacob’s favoritism with the resulting conflict between Joseph and his brothers,… and by golly we haven’t even gotten out of Genesis. That said, of course there are models of fatherhood in both Old and New Testament books that strike readers as better for men to emulate. And there are texts that honor fairness, strength, generosity, and love by fathers. Finally, of course, as Rabbi Daniel Brenner wrote, “On Father’s Day, we honor our fathers not by comparing them to some ideal, but by acknowledging them for whom they really are.” I am lucky to have a dad who takes the Bible seriously but (and?) judges for himself what is right and good. Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there! May you be not entirely biblical in your parenting and loved whatever the case.
